Fuel Gauge availability

[superdamon]

Hi All,

My first post here and my first E30! I've just bought a clean 87 325i Cab and it's even better than I expected.

I've got a couple of niggles to fix and one of them is the Fuel Gauge. I've read up on the wiki and it's looking as though someone has fitted a facelift cluster. The previous owner said the original cluster was being repaired by a 'specialist' and they had a fire in the building. Subsequently they replaced the cluster with a second hand one.

From what I gather, the Fuel Gauge doesn't go below half a tank even when empty so I'm guessing it's only receiving 60ohms from the sender as opposed the 120 it's expecting for an empty tank. The fuel light is also a bit dodgy and I do get the occasional seeking up and down. It appears to be a couple of issues so I'll clean up the contacts on the cluster and take a look at the Fuel Sender too.

So does my assumption regarding the gauge/cluster sound plausible and if it's true, can a replacement gauge be sourced? Or is it usually a case of purchasing an entire cluster and gutting it?

Thanks

Damon

[Brianmoooore]

Fuel gauge is easily swapped over if you open up the cluster. Just one nut on the back of the case holds it in.
You should have no trouble getting hold of a second hand gauge on here. You may even find someone with the opposite problem, who's willing to do a straight swap.
While your cluster is out, check both brass nuts on the back are tight, check the state of the SI board batteries, replace any bulbs that are blackened or burnt out and the condition of the soldered joints of a large 220 ohm resistor near the top of the temperature gauge.

[superdamon]

Thanks for the info Brian, much appreciated. I'll take a look at the cluster and good point about the possible swap.

Your name sounds familiar, do you know David Evans from classic car mag? I'm sure he's mentioned your name before.